Veritatis Gaudium: Multidisciplinary Journal of Postgraduate Studies

The growing visibility of armed bandits on social media has transformed public engagement with insecurity in Nigeria, particularly among digitally connected youths. Although studies have extensively examined the structural drivers of banditry, media representations of insecurity, and youth engagement with digital platforms, limited attention has been paid to how the sustained visibility of bandits across social media influences young people's perceptions of banditry. This paper evaluates the impact of bandits' social media visibility on the perception of banditry among youths in Ilorin metropolis. Drawing on Agenda-Setting Theory and Framing Theory, the study argues that repeated exposure to bandit-related content shapes cognitive evaluations of insecurity by influencing issue salience, framing violent actors, reinforcing emotional responses, and affecting perceptions of credibility, legitimacy and risk. Existing literature demonstrates that social media simultaneously functions as a platform for information dissemination, civic engagement and misinformation, thereby producing competing interpretations of violent events among young audiences. The paper concludes that the influence of social media visibility depends not only on the frequency of exposure but also on the interpretive frames embedded within digital content and the media literacy of users. It recommends strengthening digital media literacy, promoting conflict-sensitive reporting, encouraging responsible platform governance, and developing coordinated counter-narrative strategies capable of reducing the unintended normalization and amplification of bandit-related content among Nigerian youths.

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